Machine for cleaning frangible material from solid objects

ABSTRACT

A machine for cleaning frangible material such as mortar from solid objects such as brick by utilization of a reciprocal mass mounted for striking the frangible material at a selected frequency, angle, and penetration.

United States Patent [56] Relerences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1958 Skowronski.. ......l......,.

Edward D. Lewis, Jr. 3805 Wooten Drive. Fort Worth. Tex. 76133 [72] Inventor XXX 665 555 555 777 [21] Appl. No. 789,520 [22] Filed Jan. 7, 1969 Patented July 6, 1971 FOREIGN PATENTS Primary Examiner- Harold D. Whitehead Attorney-Wofford and Felsman [S4] MACHINE FOR CLEANING FRANGIBLE France Italy MATERIAL FROM SOLID OBJECTS 9 Clllms. 11 Drawing Figs.

ABSTRACT: A machine for cleaning frangible material such 6 6 a n n 7 1 9 4 L x C 5 L U h 1 1 2 1| 5 5 1 1 as mortar from solid objects such as brick by utilization of a E02d 7/18, 525d 11/12 Field of /26; reciprocal mass mounted for striking the frangible material at /56, 55 a selected frequency, angle, and penetration.

PATENIEU JUL 5 I911 sum 1 or 2 FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 EDWARD D. LEW/S, JP.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS MACHINE FOR CLEANING FRANGIBLE MATERIAL FROM SOLID OBJECTS BACKGROUND AND GENERAL DISCUSSION Frequently, it is economically advantageous to cleanse such material as mortar from used brick to enable reuse of the brick. It is common for mortar to be removed from brick manually, a time-consuming and expensive process, especially since relatively large numbers of brick cleansed in this manner are fractured.

A number of machines have been previously proposed for automatically cleaning the mortar from brick, most of which utilize one or more pairs of scraping blades separated by a distance equal to the thickness of the brick. The brick may then be forcibly urged through the blades to remove the mortar by a scraping action. Such machines have a number of sig nificant disadvantages, one of which is frequent dulling of the blades. In addition, significantly large forces are required to urge brick past the blades, especially when the blades are dull.

My purpose is to provide a machine capable of cleaning brick or other solid objects through utilization of a reciprocating chisel or impact element and resonant drive system driven at a selected frequency near resonance. The angle at which the chisel strikes the mortar may be selected and subsequently varied to insure a minimum number of brick are fractured. This process is similar to the process of cleaning brick by a handheld chisel or hammer but has the advantage that the force of the blows are uniform, whereas in manual cleaning the forces of the blows are occasionaily large, thus tending to produce fractured brick. Ideally, a table is utilized having a slot through which the reciprocating chisel extends, with the angle of the table being determined by the operator. Since the consistency and constituency of mortar varies, it is desirable to be able to alter the angle the chisel strikes the brick. Further, the depth of penetration of the chisel should be governed. In a preferred embodiment a spring-mass system is driven by an eccentric mass or cam, with the spring and mass being sized such that they have a resonant or near resonant frequency corresponding to the rotational speed of the cam. In this manner a small quantity of energy is required to drive the chisel, thus adding reliability and economy to the machine. Further features and advantages of my invention will become apparent in the following detailed description:

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine for cleaning solid objects in accordance with the principles of my invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are respectively a fragmentary and partially sectional front elevation view and a fragmentary top view of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top view of a modified form of spring-mass system for driving reciprocating chisels;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are respectively a top, a front and a side elevation view of an alternate form of machine;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are respectively a top and a front elevation view of another alternate embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of yet another embodiment of my invention; and

FIG. II is a schematic view of another form of my invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring initially to FIG. 1, the numeral I1 designates a base or frame to which is vertically secured an electric motor 13 having an output shaft 15 which drives a cam shaft I7. The cam shaft has one offset shaft 19 and a second offset shaft 2| for driving respectively a reciprocating element or mass 23 and a second reciprocating element or mass 25.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3 the mass 25 is "U" shaped, having upper and lower arms II with slots 24 (see FIG. 3)

through which the shaft 3| extends. Mall 33 also has a "U" shaped portion 20 having a slot 26 through which the shaft I9 extends. Thus, the configuration of the masses 13, 25, the shafts I9, 21 and the slots 24, I6 enables reciprocation of the masses that is I out-of-phase.

The reciprocating mass 33 supports two horizontally extending shafts 27, 29 which support four biasing means (here springs) 31, 33, 35, and 37 (see especially FIG. 1). Each of the shafts terminate in a shoulder 38 that confines either spring 35 or 37. A movable mass or plate 39 that is a part of chisel or impact element 41 is secured between the springs 31, 35 and the springs 33, 37. The chisel 41 extends through a slot 43 in a table 45 pivotally mounted by a shaft 47 to the frame II. The central axis of the slot 43 and the shafl 47 are aligned in this instance.

The opposite end of the machine supports horizontally extending shafts 49, 51 which carry springs 53, 55, 57 and 59. A movable mass 61 is carried by shafts 49, 5] between springs 53 and 57 and springs 55, 59 and is a part of chisel 63. The chisel 63 is supported by guide rails 65, 67 which engage and support slideable protrusions 69, 71 on the chisel. Identical guide rails 73, 75 and protrusions (not shown) are utilized on the other end of the machine in connection with the chisel 4]. The masses supporting the chiaels 41, 63 are equalized to dynamically balance the system.

In operation the electric motor 13 which may be variable speed, is energized to rotate the shaft 15. The offset shafts l9 and 21 reciprocate the "U" shaped masses 23, 25 and the chiaels 4], 63 through the above described springs at a frequency which is in the region of the resonant frequency of the spring-mass system. The angle of the table 45 shown in the drawing is adjusted about the shaft 47 to alter the angle with which the chisel 4l strikes the brick 87. The brick is drawn lengthwise across the table such that the chisel blows cover essentially the entirety of one surface. Then the brick may be turned such that its additional surfaces may be cleaned in a similar manner. Consequently, each surface of the brick is cleansed in an effective and advantageous manner. Maximum amplitude of the chisel movement depends on tuning the spring-mass system to the speed of rotation of the offset shafls I9, II. By altering the motor speed, slight nonresonance may be obtained to decrease chisel movement amplitude. Thus, the depth of penetration of the chisel may be controlled in this convenient manner.

DESCRIPTION OF ALTERNATE EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, the numeral 89 designates an electric motor (preferably variable speed) which drives, with the assistance of a four bar linkage 9], a torsion spring 93 supported on suitable bearings 95, 97. An oscillating chisel 99 is disposed at one end of the torsion spring for engaging and cleaning mortar or the like from brick. The speed of oscillation established by the electric motor is preferably tuned to the resonant frequency of the torsion spring 93. A table arrangement (not shown) may be utilized similar to that shown in FIG. I to control the angle the chisel strikes the brick. In addition, the speed of rotation of the motor 89 may be varied from resonant frequency to control the chisel penetration rate in a manner similar to that of the embodiment of FIGS. I through 3.

It is advantageous that two surfaces of the brick be cleaned at one time, and thus the FIG. 3 embodiment illustrates a spring-mas system which may be used to accomplish this result. In this instance, the movable mass II)! has horizontally extending shafts I03, I05 that receive springs I07, I09 which engage one chisel mass III. Additional springs I13, I15 separate the first chisel mass from a second chisel mass 119, the back of which engages springs I21, I23 which respectively engage the stops I25, I27. The movable mass IIII is reciprocated at one of two selected resonant frequencies of the spring-mass system, as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. One resonent frequency causes the masses Ill, I19

to move in phase, and another frequency causes the masses to move 180 out-of-phase. Thus, both sides of the brick may be struck simultaneously, or by varying the frequency, the sides may be struck alternately.

Another alternate embodiment is illustrated in FIG. which shows schematically a source of alternating electrical current 13] connected with a frequency varying circuit means 133 for supplying voltage at a selected frequency to a coil 135 that surrounds a rod of magnetic metal 137. The alternating nature of the current causes the rod 137, which is supported by structure 138 at its midsection, to expand or contract in the nature of typically known magnetostrictive devices. If the coil I35 and the chisel end 140 of the rod are one quarter wave length (A4) from the support structure 138, a standing wave can be formed in the rod, with a displacement node at support 138 and displacement antinodes at each end of the rod. The system is tuned by correlating the frequency of the modulator and the length of mass I37 to correspond with the speed of sound in the metal used to fabricate the rod 137. Thus the chisel end 139 may be used to periodically strike brick to remove mortar. As in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a table means may be utilized to support the brick for establishing the angle the chisel makes with the mortar.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate another embodiment in which two beam supports I39, I carry a beam 143 that carries an electric motor 145 which supports and rotates eccentric masses 147, I49. Rotation of the masses 147, I49 reciprocates the beam near its resonant frequency to reciprocate the chisel I51, causing it to strike periodically the brick 87.

Another embodiment is shown in FIG. I] in which an acoustic vibration generator 153, which may be of the type shown in the Buoyoucos US. Pat. No. 3,004,5l2, transmits acoustic vibrations to a reciprocating mass 155. Each side of the generator 153 is connected with each side of the mass I55 by a quarter wave length line 157 or 159 such that the acoustic waves from each leg of the generator, which are 180 out-ofphase, are imposed on the opposite ends of the reciprocating mass 155. A chisel 157 may be secured to the mass 155 for the purpose of striking and cleaning a brick. The mass may be supported in a casing 158 having O-rings 16], 163 to prevent fluid from leaking past the slot 165 through which the chisel [67 extends.

While I have shown my invention in only a few of its forms, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art it is not so limited, but is susceptible to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof.

lclaim:

l. A cleaning machine for removing frangible material from the surface of a solid object, said machine comprising:

a supporting base;

a vibration generator carried by the base;

a first mass connected with the vibration generator for reciprocal motion;

a second mass connected with the vibration generator for reciprocal motion substantially out-of-phase with the motion of said first mass;

shaft means extending outwardly from each of said masses and terminating in a shoulder;

a movable impact element supported on each said shaft;

biasing means interposed between the first and second said masses and each associated impact element, and in addition between the impact element and the shoulders of said shafts, said vibration generator adapted to operate at the resonant frequency of said biasing means.

2. The machine of claim 1 which further comprises a pair of tables slotted to receive one end portion of an associated impact element, said tables being pivotally mounted with respect to the base to define a selected impact angle of said element relative to a solid object placed on one of said tables.

3. The machine of claim 1 in which said vibration generator comprises a cam shaft having offset shafts spaced 180 apart, said first and second masses having slots to receive said offset shafts.

4. The machine of claim 1 in which said biasing means comprises coiled, compression springs.

5. The machine of claim 1 in which said masses are dynamically balanced.

6. A cleaning machine for removing frangible material from the surface of a solid object, said machine comprising:

a supporting base;

a vibration generator carried by the base;

shaft means connected with the vibration generator for reciprocal movement at a selected frequency;

a pair of oppositely facing impact elements mounted on said shaft;

biasing means carried by said shaft means and interposed between the vibration generator and said impact elements. and between each said impact element and an opposed shoulder to confine the biasing means;

said biasing elements and impact elements being tuned to operate at a selected resonant frequency.

7. The machine of claim 6 which further comprises a pair of tables slotted to receive one end portion of an associated impact element said tables being pivotally mounted with respect to the base to define a selected impact angle of said element relative to a solid object placed on one of said tables.

8. The machine of claim 6 in which said biasing means comprises coiled, compression springs.

9. The machine of claim 6 in which said masses are dynamically balanced. 

1. A cleaning machine for removing frangible material from the surface of a solid object, said machine comprising: a supporting base; a vibration generator carried by the base; a first mass connected with the vibration generator for reciprocal motion; a second mass connected with the vibration generator for reciprocal motion substantially 180* out-of-phase with the motion of said first mass; shaft means extending outwardly from each of said masses and terminatiNg in a shoulder; a movable impact element supported on each said shaft; biasing means interposed between the first and second said masses and each associated impact element, and in addition between the impact element and the shoulders of said shafts, said vibration generator adapted to operate at the resonant frequency of said biasing means.
 2. The machine of claim 1 which further comprises a pair of tables slotted to receive one end portion of an associated impact element, said tables being pivotally mounted with respect to the base to define a selected impact angle of said element relative to a solid object placed on one of said tables.
 3. The machine of claim 1 in which said vibration generator comprises a cam shaft having offset shafts spaced 180* apart, said first and second masses having slots to receive said offset shafts.
 4. The machine of claim 1 in which said biasing means comprises coiled, compression springs.
 5. The machine of claim 1 in which said masses are dynamically balanced.
 6. A cleaning machine for removing frangible material from the surface of a solid object, said machine comprising: a supporting base; a vibration generator carried by the base; shaft means connected with the vibration generator for reciprocal movement at a selected frequency; a pair of oppositely facing impact elements mounted on said shaft; biasing means carried by said shaft means and interposed between the vibration generator and said impact elements, and between each said impact element and an opposed shoulder to confine the biasing means; said biasing elements and impact elements being tuned to operate at a selected resonant frequency.
 7. The machine of claim 6 which further comprises a pair of tables slotted to receive one end portion of an associated impact element said tables being pivotally mounted with respect to the base to define a selected impact angle of said element relative to a solid object placed on one of said tables.
 8. The machine of claim 6 in which said biasing means comprises coiled, compression springs.
 9. The machine of claim 6 in which said masses are dynamically balanced. 